Just Keep Diggin' Those Holes...

Oy.

It's never right.

In my career as a public educator, I look back and fondly remember my best days of teaching. There was a 2-year span where I teamed with a very lovely person, teaching a dual-language, Spanish-English Immersion classroom. We had 61 students, split into 2 groups. I was the English immersion instructor while my partner did, obviously, the Spanish. We used precise, research-based strategies to create a group of bilingual/biliterate children. We laughed sometimes too much. We definitely went on field trips (I think we did 14 in the 2 years we were together), and we cried when anyone in our clan was hurting, including their family members. We dealt with current events, specifically focusing on immigration laws, "having papers," and American politics.

Those days are gone. Today, I'm a 1/2-time Instructional Coach and 1/2-time ELD teacher in a school that makes me nuts! My job is simple enough, but the challenge of current, relevent issues is gone. My schedule is simple enough, but I feel sad about the amount of time I COULD be working to make a difference, but am, instead, battling reluctant and closed-minded staff.

So, I've put in a request to move my Coaching position to a different school with a much-needier clientele. I like them little guys who come to school to learn to function in society, as well as to read, write, and do a little math. I LOVE those Title I schools, with their focus on taking something that's a little "sorry" and spinning it into gold...every-single-day!

Here's the catch: I think I'll get the new position. I've just complicated my life, because I'll also be working at the previous school as an ELD teacher (English Language Development) and supervising at another school! That means...from 1 school that is less intense to 3 intense positions...and they are all miles apart!

I just keep diggin' those holes a bit deeper...